LEADERS IN LEARNING


CAMBRIDGE-STRATEGIES.ORG ISSR.SE


STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN


“THERE ARE SO MANY NATIVE LANGUAGES AROUND THE SCHOOL THAT CHILDREN USUALLY PICK UP AN INTEREST IN SOMEWHERE THEY MAY NEVER HAVE VISITED”


INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE STOCKHOLM REGION


IN SWEDEN’S CAPITAL city there is a school that caters to a particularly diverse group of children. Over half of the children at the International School of the Stockholm Region (ISSR) are only temporary visitors—their parents are truly international and the children move countries often —yet the school manages to foster a real sense of community. Part of the reason for this is that ISSR offers the Primary Years, Middle


Years and Diploma Programmes of the globally recognised International Baccalaureate (IB) to the 500 children, aged five to 19, that study there. The children hail, for the most part, from other schools across the IB network, which means that the work they encounter is already familiar to them. This helps to foster a sense of belonging but, in addition, these are children that share a similar peripatetic experience. As a result, ISSR brings more than 40 different nationalities and 50 different languages into classes taught in English by a diverse teaching body.


CRITICAL THINKING “The IB curriculum is very well rounded,” says Karin Henrekson Ahlberg, Head of School. “There is a lot of emphasis on extras, such as the Theory of Knowledge, which teaches students critical thinking. By the time our students get to university they are familiar with critical thinking and extended essay writing.” Those “extras” also include the Community, Action and Service


education scheme, which is coordinated by Yes Blijden. “One of the great things about the programme is that children are constantly doing extra activities together,” says Blijden. “Sometimes that is outside of school hours, and this creates another community for them. There are so many native languages around the school that children usually pick up an


interest in somewhere they may never have visited and they want to learn that language with the help of their fellow students.”


GLOBAL EXCHANGE ISSR is also a United Nations-certified school, which means that the school engages in activities that help young people become internationally minded. Among the projects is an official cultural exchange with a school in India. “It’s not just a cultural exchange, we actually raise money here in


Sweden to fund some of the needs in their surrounding area,” says Blijden. “But we stress to our students that they find a balance in everything they do. So, we encourage them to think globally and act locally. And not just in the community, but in the school as well: our older students help the younger ones find their footing or spend time reading to them. And we engage them in these sorts of activities from a very young age.” The IB programme is also academically rigorous, and the school’s results—which are higher than the world average—speak for themselves. Every year, the school’s alumni network organises an annual reunion


that continues the sense of community far beyond the end of a student’s time at ISSR. “It’s quite likely that they will end up in the same country together


again,” says Blijden. “So our alumni network is an important link to their past as well as to their future. We have a very friendly atmosphere at he school, so they remember us with great fondness. They are prepared to work anywhere in the world because they have received so many experiences from each other from all different countries; they have seen different values and different approaches to things. They are really well prepared for working in a global society.”

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141